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White Paper: Research-Driven Approach​ to Curriculum Design

Learn more about the research-driven approach to Middlebury Interactive Languages’ curriculum design.

Research in Second Language Acquisition and cognitive psychology has shown in the last decades that in order to be successful in their foreign language learning, students need, thorough exposure to authentic, comprehensible input, rich and frequent opportunities to interact in the target language in a purposeful way.

Five key concepts, identified by Lourdes Ortega (2009) as the five environmental ingredients of success, are at the core of the pedagogical design for Middlebury Interactive's Fluency courses:

A positive attitude towards the language and the community speaking this language (acculturated attitudes)

Frequent exposure to language that is both comprehensible and one step beyond the level of language already acquired (comprehensible input)